Fringe 2010 - FFA2 - From the other Manhattan, in Kansas...

Proving once again that Fringe recommendations can come from far away places indeed...

Blake E. Bolan, part of the brain trust behind Savage Umbrella, which produced Love Me Or Die, #1 on my 2009 pre-Fringe Top 10 list, and one of only two shows in the Fringe I saw more than once because I loved it so... Blake, who was also part of what made my little blue foot play Two Left Feet so wonderful as part of the Museum of Bad Art Plays at the Bryant Lake Bowl last year, emailed me out of the blue to say...

"I'm writing from the other side of the world: I'm teaching English/adventuring in South Korea, and I'm missing the Fringe vibe like you wouldn't believe."

And then proceeded to sing the praises of an out-of-towner group which had a pretty spiffy video as part of the Fringe-For-All previews on Monday...

The show...

living traces - burning breath

The group...

The Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop

Why Blake loves them so (and why I'm so keen now to see them for myself)...

"They are a group near and dear to me, they're to blame for getting me performing, writing, and thinking the way I do.

The Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop is an educational program based in Manhattan, KS that teaches experimental and avant garde theater to high school students. After studying movement and staging techniques, as well as reading some of the masters, the students choose a well-known story to write and perform under the influence of the styles they have studied.

When I was 13 years old, I signed up, not having a clue what I was in for. By the end of the first day, we had sweat, we had wailed like banshees, we had read Artaud and Foreman, and little did I know, my life had changed forever. Needless to say, all of my current passions in the arts are tied directly to what I learned in the years that I wrote and performed with that group, and later when I went back to direct.

The group performs in the first week of the Fringe, since they are an out of town group, and if you had a chance to see their work, I think you wouldn't regret it. I know you're a buuuuusy bee during the Fringe, but I wanted to give you a head's up. Their intelligence and hard work are a delight."

Show description...

"In living traces - burning breath a group of wickedly intelligent young artists

("Is there any other kind?" commented Robin Gillette when reading their introduction.)

explore the story of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp from the Arabian Nights. Using the techniques of Ntozake Shange, Betsuyaku Minoru, Harry Kondolen, Peter Handke, and the dadaists, they have created a collage of provocative works full of fascinating soundscapes and movement that defies physical limitations- pushing their minds and bodies to the edge to create a performance of astounding passion and infectious abandon.

Wealth, Regret, and Sacrifice, explores the confusion of Aladdin's mother as she tries to reconcile her son's behavior towards her with her hopes and sacrifices for him.

The Sword in the Bed, explores interpersonal relationships and how they are affected by shared trauma, dissonant memories, and ritual as Aladdin and his wife discover an old relic that dredges up uncomfortable memories from the past.

In I Tell, Scheherazade tells of her personal struggle to defeat the Sultan, whose revenge hardened heart consumes him, threatening the lives of women everywhere. She uses rhythm and dance to conjure characters for her stories and survive in a world where greed begets power, as power begets greed.

The Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop (MXTW), created by Dr. Jim Hamilton, professor of philosophy at Kansas State University, in 1989, is a program of the Arts Center of Manhattan, Kansas. It is a 5-week workshop for high school students. Part classroom and part production-company, participants study various styles of avant-garde theater, then write and perform original pieces under the influences of the styles they have studied. MXTW empowers participants to make strong creative choices, engaging an audience as abstract, intelligent, and innovative as they are. MXTW will astound you with their perception, innovation, and passion."

(So, they're not shy.)

Considering some artists' DVDs sent to the Fringe didn't work at all, and others, while entertaining, had wonky sound quality at best, The Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop's video preview was all the more impressive. Well edited, with some low grade special effects, a combo of video and still photos, with lots of subtitles, it guided us through their process of gathering and studying and creating a show, all in under 3 minutes. The only "live theater" accident of fate was the fact that the blacks on the stage were hung in such a way that they bunched up in the bottom left corner of the screen, which is the corner of the screen were most of the subtitles started. So "We did this," or "We did that" came off looking like "e did this" and "e did that." No worries, the audience was able to suss it out for themselves.

The process involves the study of high-brow theater names I haven't heard or used in conversation since grad school, if then. All of which might be a warning sign that the whole thing was hopelessly pretentious (not to mention the "we're too cool to use capital letters, just like e.e. cummings" title). But I trust Blake's assessment. And the slickness of the video presentation is equally impressive in their favor. If they can get their act together enough to trot out media like that, imagine how finely tuned the show is likely to be.

I haven't a clue what the heck their show publicity image is supposed to be. Since the show deals with Aladdin it could be three gizmos for the three wishes. They don't look like three magic lamps (and besides, there was only one lamp). The piece is in three parts so it could be representative of that. Maybe we should have a guessing game and then corner one of the artists and force them to tell us. And then I'll feel foolish because it's so painfully obvious that I'm missing it.

Their blog - mxtw.blogspot.com

Their YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/mxtwATmxtwDOTorg

Their facebook page

Their website - www.mxtw.org

Their Fringe page

Fringe-For-All preview video

Fringe 2010 - FFA2 - A Dracula Musical That Doesn't Bite

Another Fringe-For-All preview that pleasantly surprised me was...

Dracula's Castle

Top Hat Theatre

"Locked inside Dracula's domain, chilling secrets unveil. Delicious discoveries drip from Transylvanian walls as this musical montage surrenders secrets of why the school children are disappearing one by one..."

So... Dracula as a metaphor for pedophiles? Or child-abducting serial killers?

Sorry, that's what the publicity blurb makes me think.

Of course, Dracula as theater for young audiences doesn't exactly click for me either, but the company has a track record of knowing what they're doing, at least in terms of pulling in a crowd...

"2008: Voted Runner Up for Best Children's Theater in the Twin Cities! ~MN Parent Magazine

2008: Robin Hood The Musical (#7 in the Minnesota Fringe Festival attendance)

2007: Voted Best Music for Kids in the Twin Cities! ~MN Parent Magazine

2007: Hansel & Gretel (#5 in the Minnesota Fringe Festival attendance)

2002: Cinderella (#2 in the Minnesota Fringe Festival attendance)"

And they do know how to put on a preview.

I was all set to write this one off as a kids show and then...

Dracula started singing.

In a welcome trend of not repeating the volume issues of Fringe-For-All 1 last week at the History Theater, most artists this time around could be clearly heard, and without the aid of microphones.

Dracula (Josiah Gulden) has (you'll pardon the pun) a monster set of pipes. A really impressive, hall-filling voice.

I'm not sure if the young lady he was intent on seducing was Mina (Quinn Shadko) or Lucy (Emily Temple) (not a school child by the way, so I'm still a little puzzled by the kiddie angle in the publicity) but she also had a lovely voice and they blended well together. I think the dissonant note at the end between them was intentional (after all mixed marriages between humans and monsters never work out.)

Basically, your standard-issue Dracula scenario,
"Haven't I met you before, several centuries ago?"
"Oh, I can't, I really can't, OK maybe just a nibble."

And given the period costumes and the cape and the booming voices, I kept expecting someone to bust out with "The PHAN-tom of the opera is there... inside my mind." But they refrained (again, no pun intended)

I'd go just to hear Dracula and his lady friends sing. That's some good stuff.

Always a plus in the Fringe musical when the performers can actually sing.

Fringe For All preview video



Their website - www.tophattheatre.com

Their Fringe page

Fringe 2010 - Internet Withdrawal - Scheduling Overload

Halfway through the evening yesterday, I lost the internet connection at my apartment. Clearly I've been spending too much time online blogging and sorting through the Minnesota Fringe website lately, because I couldn't think of a thing to do with myself.

Here's a thought, your play that you're rewriting isn't online.

There are these things called books.

Radical suggestion, maybe go to sleep at a decent hour.

The internet connection issue was still present this morning. Sigh.

So much for getting a jump on blogging, perhaps stockpiling some entries to dole out over the next few days, keep ahead of the curve.

This new bookmarking feature on the Fringe website is mighty handy. Once you sign in, if you visit a show page you like, you can bookmark it. There's a little link you can click on that appears right under the title of the show with a little heart next to it. Then later just look at your page of bookmarks, rather than have to search the whole site or look at the monster listing.

Of course, this only works effectively if you are capable of narrowing down your options.

Which, apparently, I am not.

After I got done flipping through all the shows and the Fringe program, I realized I had 117 bookmarks.

(When you stop laughing, I will continue...)

OK, so that's more than two-thirds of the festival listings.

Of which I could only see less than a third originally anyway.

So there needs to be a little more ruthless hardcore winnowing done.

Some of them will fall away easily ("Hmm, that looks interesting...").
Others will be painful ("But I really wanted to see that...").

I'd already mapped out a preliminary schedule for the first seven days when Mom's here, based on her favorites, and things I think she'd like.

Revisiting that, there were already some changes to be made. Previews and other research have made some shows must-see that weren't on my radar before. Other previews and research made me think "eh, not so much..." on a few others. Plus there's just the logistics of getting from one place to another to take into account.

I have to say, the Fringe scheduling grids you can download this year are enormously helpful. I didn't notice til yesterday that they clump venues together by location - NE Mpls, St. Paul, Uptown, West Bank. Very handy. Well done, Fringe staff! My directionally impaired brain thanks you. (Mom's better with sense of direction, but I'll only have her the first seven days of the festival. After that, I'm on my own.)

OK, day job now. Online noodling later.

Fringe 2010 - Fringe-For-All 2 - Unscheduled Zombie Singers On The Sidewalk

This preview wasn't even part of Fringe-For-All, officially anyway. A gathering of teenagers in zombie makeup greeted those of us exiting the Ritz after Fringe-For-All #2 last night, greeted us with postcards - and song.

Zombie High School

Late Night Menu

"The Zombie Apocalypse has come and gone, and now the undead and humans are trying desperately to coexist. A young human student, Maggie Mulligan, decides to brave all obstacles and become an exchange student at a high school for zombies in order to learn more about their culture. However, in the folly of youth, Maggie ends up biting off more than she can chew.

Local a cappella group Late Night Menu takes you on a 100% unaccompanied a cappella musical through Maggie's adventures. Their golden pipes will tickle your fancy throughout terrifying moments, delicious zombie-on-human romances, haunting throwbacks to the civil rights movement, and stunning vocal percussion from an undead principal.

This show would be perfect for the following:

-zombie-lovin' Minneapolitans

-musical theater junkies

-a cappella enthusiasts

-teenagers, young adults, parents of cast members [Blogger's note - hee]

-horror movie fanatics

-college students

-civil rights activists and historians

-zombies

The Twin Cities has a huge a cappella scene, and Late Night Menu is excited to bring this type of music to the fringe festival in the form of zombies, one of Minneapolis' famed obsessions. Their overall humorous production has surprising depth through nods to relevant political, social and racial issues, characters full of heart, and song and dance that will set your heart a-flutter.

This show was written for people who can't resist a good musical, and who can't resist a good zombie play. Come one come all. Also, BRAINS!"

Zombies squick me out. I'm not entirely sure why. I'm not a big fan of horror films anyway. Blood and entrails and death don't really provide me with any thrills or catharsis. I'm more an emotional rather than physical consequences kind of guy. The sort of monsters I can handle are the TV variety - Buffy, Angel, The Vampire Diaries, Twilight (ok that's a movie), Supernatural, True Blood (though those last two are pushing my comfort envelope more than a little). I can deal with vampires and werewolves, apparently. But zombies throw me for a loop.

So why I'm currently writing a play that features a zombie, I haven't a clue. Since there isn't currently any flesh or brain-eating going on, that may be helping.

If you type "zombie" into the Search function on the Fringe website, you get not one, not two, but three hits. The high school noted above, a collection of short plays called Eat My Zombie Shorts!, and, on a tangent, Kill Will - Oh no, not more Shakespearean Zombies!

Zombie normally equals "no" in my book, automatically, without question. I'm a pussy.

But the singing of these high school zombies is really good. (There were two songs they cycled through - I forget the title of the second one but the first was an upbeat ditty called, "Welcome To The End of the World" - no really, it was bouncy.)

They're a group that's used to working together, so the musical bits I heard on the sidewalk, and in the video clips below, impressed me. Good music in a Fringe musical is always a plus.

And it makes the zombies a bit easier to take, though of course I'm sure it still all ends badly (plot-wise, I mean). The singing makes me want to give it a chance, though.

They know music, but do they know plot? I wonder about the script, (or the story, if it's all just music).

But the music is so entertaining, I almost don't care. I may give it a go regardless.

They were smart to have their little impromptu concert. It made me give them a second look.

Also worth a look, their training in a zombie workshop



The ballad Don't Lose Heart. The camerawork on both the songs has a tendency to cut off heads, which is amusing, given the subject matter...



And this one has "perky opening number" written all over it - Everything's Going To Be Great! - stay tuned at the end for rehearsal banter, and a lingering boob shot (oops)...



Their website - www.zombiehighschool.com

Their Fringe page

Fringe 2010 - FFA1 - Shows That Get Physical You Knew I'd Like

In the category of "shows that I liked which will surprise absolutely no one" there is of course a subcategory of "Shows That Get Physical" (aka, that brand of physical theater everyone keeps talking about, covering a spectrum from mime and clowning to dance, all wrapped up in some kind of theatrical storytelling)

Waiting For Biffy

Kirsten Stephen, Dean Hatton & Renee Howard

"Come experience an imaginative, visual world of physical theater where a disco soldier dazzles his enemy, lovers fall prey to the power of the flower and desperate hippies are Waiting for Biffy!"

A fellow blogger astutely pointed out part of the strategy for keeping things original here. They keep adding a new person each year. At least the first year I finally saw him, Fringe 2008, it was Dean going solo with Silent Poetry. He was part of my pre-Fringe Top 20 that year, and ended up with a five star review from me, and equally complimentary praise from his audiences. A Returning Favorite in Fringe 2009, he had his performing partner Kristen back from the war (that's not a euphemism. She was literally in the Middle East) for Silent Poetry 2, which I unfortunately missed, but which audiences again embraced wholeheartedly

This year, they've added Renee, who was present as part of the preview of Waiting for Biffy. Their standard waist-high black frame for handy appearances and disappearances, and handful of optical illusions. Their usual energetic music. And a quest for toilet paper, or at least to be the one who ended up in possession of the toilet paper. Elevators, escalators, a lot of furious running in place, hands comically appearing halfway across the stage to nab the roll of toilet paper from their unsuspecting prey. It was a tidy little preview that shows what they're up to. I'm curious to see what new scenarios they have in store this year. Sure to be a combination of the comic and the sentimental, both most welcome.

They also filmed a video preview in an actual location, with props they didn't need to mime.



Their website - www.kirstenanddean.com

Their Fringe page

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Ballad of the Pale Fisherman

Isabel Nelson

"What happens when a fisherman falls in love with a woman who happens to be a seal? Faced with the dueling calls of land and sea, which will she choose?

Ballad of the Pale Fisherman is a re-imagining of the Irish/Scottish folktale of the seal-woman, or selkie. In this timeless fable, a fisherman falls in love with a beautiful seal-woman, and takes her as his wife. But a love that defies the laws of land and sea is never simple (see: Little Mermaid, The), and the seal-woman must eventually make a choice borne of betrayal and self-sacrifice. Will she choose her past or her future, her heart or her home?

Using song and movement to portray fisherman and sea creatures, curmudgeonly storytellers and sweeping landscapes, this newly-formed ensemble creates a world that is as magical as it is moving, as lyrical as it is heartfelt. The performers hail from backgrounds and trainings as varied as Live Action Set, Sandbox Theater, the Minnesota Shakespeare Company, the University of Minnesota B.F.A./Guthrie program, and the Lecoq-based London International School for Performing Arts (LISPA). From such far-flung experiences, these eight physical theatre creators have come together in collaboration to build this re-imagining of the selkie folktale through original music and storytelling.

There will be physical theatre, but it's not a dance piece. There's an accordion, but not a polka to be found. It's family friendly, but it's not a kid's show. It's a fairy tale with depth, with sharp edges and deep longing. Above all, it is imaginative.

Come see for yourself!"

I've already written a bit about the seal-woman trend in this year's Fringe.

This was one of those previews that stood out because of its precision and polish. Everything I'd expect from a group like this, and more besides. The thing was timed out meticulously, and the excerpt was perfect for a showcase like this. Unusual entertaining storytelling. They even had a cliffhanger, just when you were totally into watching it, so they wouldn't run over time. (But not a "hey, no fair!" kind of cliffhanger. More of a "damn, I need to see that" kind of cliffhanger.)

The ensemble were waves and wind and fish flopping about on the deck of a ship, and from that emerged the fisherman, and after that, the seal woman, caught in the fisherman's net. Would he gut and scale her just like the other fish (well, of course not, or we wouldn't have a show, but he seemed pretty determined)? "Wait!" cried out the ensemble... and, scene.

Derek Miller was front and center, barefoot, narrating with an accordian in his lap. But the musical instrument wasn't so much for melody as for sound effects - the nets being cast and reeled in, the wind and waves, among other things.

It was all strangely hypnotic, carrying you along like the tide. I was already intrigued by this one, but now I'm looking forward to it even more so. Mission accomplished, preview folk.

They're even recommended by Sally Wingert, and I'm certainly not going to question Sally's taste. She knows her theater. (And I've had a big theater crush on her ever since she did my little play in Thirst a few years back, so she can do no wrong in my book.)

My previous Selkie blog entry

Their Fringe page

Fringe 2010 - FFA1 - Shows With Funny Guys You Knew I'd Like

In the category of "shows that I liked which will surprise absolutely no one" there is of course a subcategory of "Shows With Funny Guys"

I've already written elsewhere in the blog about The Princeton Seventh from Partizon Theater as one of the Returning Favorites from my 2009 Top 20 list...

"A twisty mystery of a comedy, hilarious and sad, about literature and fame and failing at both. Two men walk into a bar. It's not the start of a joke, it's the start of a hundred jokes. And some twists. The #5 show from the 2005 Fringe, starring Ari Hoptman and Alex Cole."

Their Fringe-For-All preview was just what I expected, all very good things. Clever script, Ari and Alex, plus the bonus of Alayne Hopkins portraying an old Jewish lady.

Their Fringe page

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The Quest

The Myth Players

"A modern day quest for... something important. You tell us what. The hero's journey surrounds your seats and moves between them. Joseph Campbell's classic hero cycle twisted by our own interesting times."

This is a *great* idea. Taking the classic hero's journey myth and using it as the structure around which to build a long-form improv. Hard to get something going in just 3 minutes of preview time but they did their best. And of course, the audience gave them a little something to work with.

"Something that you've lost and haven't yet found."

"Hair!" someone cried out, a bit forlornly.

A Quest for Hair, then

"Something that exists in nature."

"Ticks!" hollered someone

"A building or structure"

"The 35W Bridge!" someone else called out.

You could tell by the look on ringleader Damian Johnson's face that he was wondering,

"Wow. Too soon?"

Because once you send an improv team down that path...

And so, Chapter 1, "The 35W Bridge... of Ticks"

It was a fun bit, and I'd be interested in checking out what happens when they have the full hour to play around in.

It's a site-specific Fringe show, which can be problematic for scheduling and travel. However, this particular venue, the Sacred Paths Center, is really easy. They're just a block north of where Gremlin Theater (a regular Fringe venue) is, 777 Raymond Avenue, right off University, near the 94 and 280 intersection. If you can get to Gremlin, you can get to Sacred Paths. And since there are almost a dozen shows playing at Gremlin, you can do your St. Paul day and throw The Quest in the mix as well.

It's a nice mix of new and more established improvisers working on this one - Rita Boersma, John Eisenrich, Damian Johnson, Matt Kelly, Josh Lanset, Emily Schorr Lesnick, Adam Litz, Matt Pitner, Joe Rapp, Taj Ruler, Jen Scott, Eric Simons, Josh Stenseth, directed by Jason Bindas

I have written at length about how much I enjoy improv, and the funny ladies and (cute) guys who perform it. I wish I saw more of it. There's tons of it going on in the Twin Cities (just like "normal" theater). The Fringe is one of those times I get to catch up on a little of what I'm missing the rest of the year. So I'm hoping to get over to Sacred Paths on my own little Gremlin day(s).

Their Fringe page

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Princess Jessica & The Kingdom of Boogers

The Mechanical Division

"Warning: this play contains some very silly, life-sized, talking boogers.

Princess Jessica and the Kingdom of Boogers is a fun and slightly unorthodox children’s story created by the fun and slightly unorthodox team at Minneapolis’ The Mechanical Division, producers of two top-ten best-selling Minnesota Fringe Festival shows (2006, 2009).

Only a brave and pure-hearted person can journey to the Kingdom of Boogers to save Princess Jessica from the evil Emperor Snotso, and young Squats fits the bill. Join Squats and his best friend Dorfus as they scream, giggle, learn new tricks, overcome their fears, and grow up a little bit along the way. Recommended for kids aged 7-104."

"Missing this show will result in a fringe festival so horrible, only I could make it worse." -- Emperor Snotso

Well, even Sylvia Plath wrote children's books.

The guys behind LICK! in the 2005 Fringe, Cannibal! The Musical in Fringe 2006, and last year's The Return of LICK!, doing a children's show?

Apparently, yes.

Of course, it's still their own particular brand of children's show, but a children's show nonetheless.

They, naturally, continue to tweak the Fringe traditions as they do so. The preview was no different. During Robin Gillette's attempt at an introduction, the fanfare kicked in, and the royal messenger took over the stage so determinedly that Robin just ceded the stage to let him get on with it.

"I apologize for interrupting the Fringe Wench!" he intoned.

OK then. He then described the situation outlined above, and provided more detail as to the many perils those attempting to save Princess Jessica might encounter. They included the fog of sadness, broccoli pie, and invisible belching wolves, among many others. The style is sort of like if Dr. Seuss was feeling just a bit naughty one day, and decided to see how much he could get away with and still call it a children's book. Which is all to the good.

The Mechanical Division is a Returning Favorite from my 2006 Top 20 list for a reason. They always deliver the laughs. It's why they got the encore slot last year, and it's why I attended it, and let them be the cap on my Fringe-going marathon for 2009. Theater's always a bit more fun when they're around.

Their website - mechanicaldivision.com

Their Fringe page

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Bite Me, Twilight

Tom Reed

"One Man. Four Books. No Mercy.

Bite Me Twilight is an irreverent solo retelling of the entire 'Twilight' saga from the creator of Fringe hit 'Parry Hotter and the Half-Drunk Twins.' This pop culture-infused musical parody of vampire romance will leave you singing, 'Oops! I f#@%ed a vampire!'

Whether you're Team Jacob, Team Edward, or or have just been dragged to one of the movies, this show is sure to delight anyone with a sense of humor who's at least remotely familiar with the perils of vampire/human/werewolf love triangles.

Minneapolis Actor/Comedian/Improviser Tom Reed plays all the characters, sings epic songs and cracks wise about the 'Twilight' universe while retelling a version of the story of all four books (spoiler alert!) in the 'Twilight' series. The result is a biting comedic romp, as smart as it is hilarious."

Here's another series of books my mother has read but I'm just inching my way through in order to be ready to watch the movies with her. (Well, and I have to admit, there's a lot of shirtless werewolf guys, so that's a plus.)

Just the other night another Fringe artist was saying to me, "Damn Tom Reed for having such a ridiculously successful preview. Now what the hell are the rest of us supposed to do?"

I sympathize. I know I certainly wouldn't want to follow that. The Fringe organizers wisely held him in reserve to kick off the second half of Fringe-For-All last Monday - no doubt to insure that 1) we all came back from intermission, and 2) that we got a jolt of fun to fortify us for the 14 previews yet to come.

With Jill James providing the music, and accompanying the tireless Tom on electronic keyboard, Reed set to work with his elastic face and body to create a small cross-section of the characters we'll be encountering. And when Bella sings out, "Bite me, Edward! Bite me now!" well, what are you going to do except get your tickets before the darn thing sells out all five performances, like Parry Hotter did last year.

Even his postcard is funnier than most of them floating around out there. Sample testimonial quotes from characters in the books include...

"Till I saw this show all I thought about was killing people and drinking their blood, now I just want to sing!" - Jasper Cullen, vampire

"This show is even hotter than my sweaty washboard abs." - Jacob Black, werewolf

"I knew you were going to read this." - Alice Cullen, vampire

If I write any more about this 2008 Top 10 Returning Favorite or his show, he'll probably file a restraining order. So let's just say Bite Me Twilight is definitely on my schedule (and Mom's) (if we can get in), and leave it at that.

Oh, and a little video snippet from last year's Fringe-For-All, just for reference.



His Fringe page

Fringe 2010 - FFA1 - Shows With A Big Helping Of Gay You Knew I'd Like

In the category of "shows that I liked which will surprise absolutely no one" there is of course a subcategory of "Shows With A Big Helping of Gay"

Fringe time is one of the few times of the year I actually get to see gay characters on stage who aren't just wacky sidekicks or victims, so I try to take full advantage. Shows previewing in Fringe-For-All 1 that were pretty darn gay included...

Sincerity Forever

Arbor Heavy Theatre

"Two crude, galactic furballs corrupt sweet, all-American, KKK-loving teens. This satire inverts all they hold near and dear with homosexual young love, a black female Jesus H. Christ, and honest sincerity."

The preview featured girls with ample cleavage in KKK outfits having a vapid conversation about life in a small town, when two enormous furballs (really, really enormous furballs) came waddling out on stage. They worked their alien furball mojo on the girls, causing them both to curse like sailors, while cycling back through that same conversation again (just more colorfully). Then the furballs berated them for speaking ill of people they had so much in common with (albeit, more colorfully.)

As Robin Gillette said, "They get to say fuck way more than I'm ever allowed to say fuck." She also noted that they "win the prize for having the weirdest stuff backstage tonight."

Now, none of this preview was especially gay, but the synopsis promises "homosexual young love" AND "a black female Jesus H. Christ."

While FNU LNU in the 2007 Fringe wasn't one of my all-time favorites, I still enjoyed that last Fringe outing with Mac Wellman.

And after spending time in the company of the artists of St. Fortune Productions at the Great Plains Theatre Conference this summer, most of whom are unabashed devotees of Mac Wellman, and enjoying all their own plays quite a lot, I figured it was time to get to know the works of Mr. Wellman a bit better. Thankfully, the Fringe is making it pretty easy for me to get started.

So, a lot of foul language, and a strange style of playwriting, not for everyone, but I think I'll enjoy myself. If you're looking for something different, you might, too.

Weird thing is, I get the feeling Arbor Heavy Theatre is familiar to me, even though they're from Wisconsin. Just can't put my finger on why. Regardless, Sincerity Forever, has my attention.

Their Fringe page

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Open and Affirming Fairy Tales

AWOL Productions

"Open and Affirming Fairy Tales: The Fabulous Fables of Rainbeau Bay

Finally, fairy tales showing diverse families living in the magical Land of Make Believe! A collection of classic stories retold by zany actors showing us to love ourselves, no matter what others may think."

The preview was a snippet of the tale of the Princess and the Frog, only the Frog was also a girl, and turned into a Princess when kissed. But the spell didn't hold for long, so the girl, and girl-frog, headed over to the sorcerer's place. The sorcerer who cursed the girl-frog had a sorcerer's hat with Mickey Mouse ears on it. After tricking the sorcerer into giving away the spell, the girls hurried off to try and work the magical cure themselves (but the red preview light meant they'd run out of time - cliffhanger!)

It's the same fairy tales you remember, just with a same sex twist. Still kid-friendly from what I saw, though the gender switches may make for some interesting post-show discussions between parents and children. I'd like to think we're beyond all that, but outside the Fringe bubble, I know things are more complicated. It's why I'm happy the Fringe bubble exists once a year. Should be a fun show. I was looking forward to it even before the preview, Fringe-For-All just confirmed the instinct.

(Plus, I can't stop giggling over the publicity photo, because I know this wasn't their intention, but it looks like the most uncomfortable three-way ever.)

Their Fringe page

Their website - http://sites.google.com/site/awolproductionsmn/home

**********************************

And prize for gayest show preview of the evening naturally goes to...

Naked Yoga (and Other Gay Love Stories)

No More Mr. Nice Gay Theatre

"No More Mr. Nice Gay" found its way from a California Prop 8 opponent's sign to a newly formed theatre company producing its first show at Minnesota Fringe 2010.

No More Mr. Nice Gay Theatre's show "Naked Yoga (and Other Gay Love Stories)" brings to the Minneapolis stage five contemporary short plays about boys who love boys.

The plays are written by Kent Forsberg, are directed by Michelle Schwantes and Dominique J. Caputo, and star a gaggle of fab Twin Cities-area talent.

The show opens with "Why Does Bush Hate Flags?," a comedic drama about two teen boys on opposite sides of a marriage-equality protest. This has been a hit at play festivals in Madison (StageQ's "Queer Shorts"), Chicago (LiveWire Chicago Theatre's "Vision Fest"), Miami (Lavender Footlights Festival), Washington, D.C. (Ganymede Arts' "GLBT Fall Arts Festival"), and Boston (Boston Actors Theater's "SlamBoston!").

The show also features:
"Vampires of Minneapolis," a comedic drama about two gay men trying to connect, despite uncovering unwelcome truths and lies about themselves.

"Justin and Kyle Shop at IKEA," a comedy about two gay guys who find more than furniture in the IKEA Living Room.

"Killer 'Mo," a dark comedy about gay men and the roles they play to spice up their sex lives.

"Naked Yoga," a comedic drama about two gay guys who are hesitant about exposing their bodies, but who end up exposing their emotional sides to each other.

Gay in the title, gay in the name of the theater company, and one, two, three, four men in shorts and nothing else in three humorous and revealing publicity photos (bonus goofy looks abound).

And the preview, from "Justin and Kyle Shop at IKEA," was extremely gay. Justin and Kyle barely set foot in the place before a buff dude named Sven in very tiny shorts and a little tank top burst out from backstage to declare that "EVERY day is Gay Day at IKEA!" Only he says it "EE-KEE-A" (because of his almost impenetrable Scandanavian accent, of course). He's not just a personal shopper, he's a life coach. And a very aggressive one at that. You can bet that the one shopper who is labeled an IKEA virgin won't be one for long with Sven on the job. Furniture gets sexualized perhaps even more than it will be in Yvette. I haven't seen a guy hump the stage floor that enthusiastically since Wonderland at the Fringe back in 2006.

The producers have been trying to do this show in the Fringe since last year (but the ping pong balls of the lottery weren't kind in 2009. They ended up stuck on the wait list.) They're utilizing their Fringe page (& other publicity) plus the preview process really well. You're not going to forget all that young flesh or vigorous comic acting very easily. They make an impression. They want you to know, "This is a gay Fringe show." And god bless 'em for letting the rainbow flag fly high. I met them in May 2009 at a performance of Angels In America, starring (not coincidentally at all, I'm sure) Mason Mahoney as Belize, who is now part of their Fringe ensemble. Mason was one of the bright spots in that production, and I'm sure he'll be the same at the Fringe.

There are times I don't feel I'm quite gay enough to see this show, but I'm gonna get over myself and go anyway. There's comedy. There's a play in the mix that's had some success elsewhere already. There's no downside in having an attractive as well as talented cast. And if I don't get a big dose of gay at the Fringe, when the heck else am I gonna get it, right?

Their Fringe page

Fringe 2010 - FFA1 - Sex, Soap, Torture, Weather

The last of the "unexpectedly charming" group of previews from the Fringe-For-All last Monday would be...

Sex, Soap, Torture, Weather

Shadow Horse Productions/Stolen Dress Entertainment

"SEX, SOAP, TORTURE, WEATHER is a quirky quartet of fantastical and dark comedies showing the clash between the sexes from the stress of potential, the problems that may occur, the pain that may come, and the joy of til death do us part. Sure to be a delight for those who want a night of variety in their Fringe experience, and people who want to see new plays, this show simply can't be missed.

In VOLLEY by Alina Phelan, Matt Saxe, Bethany Ford, and Christopher Mogel, a couple duels to decide if a relationship will even start.

SOAP by Steve Stajich shows a couple at a crossroads deciding how far is too far when it comes to supporting their family.

In Matt Saxe and Christopher Mogels IT SEEMS LIKE TORTURE TO ME an L.A. actor learns a painful life lesson.

Finally in Kennedy Center Award-Winning playwright Jonathan Yukichs A SHORT HISTORY OF WEATHER two weather obsessed eccentrics, meet, fall in love and spend their lives together in a romance sure to touch the funny bone in anyone's heart."

When I read this was a group largely out of California, my first thought was "Uh oh."

Don't get me wrong. Some of my best friends are in California right now. And a lot of amazing writing goes on in California. But the last time I encountered a Fringe show from California, it was kind of a disaster. The acting was great but the writing was awful. It was an approximation of life and emotion and character, rather than, you know, actual human beings. I went in thinking it would be good, but was served up something painfully bad.

So, to be honest, when this, the final preview of Fringe-For-All last Monday, was to be presented, I was bracing myself.

The excerpt, from "A Short History Of Weather," was just the right choice to disarm me. Yes, the characters were quirky. Exceedingly so. Yes, the situation was odd. But it was also whimsical, and funny, and romantic. And if anybody can deliver whimsical, funny and romantic, it's Minneapolis actress Bethany Ford. (Bethany's done a lot of solid work both as an actress and director, more than any one person could keep up with as an audience member. And she earned even more of my admiration by choosing to launch her theater company, Prufrock, with John Guare's Landscape of the Body - one of my all-time favorite scripts, and another grab bag of oddly romantic characters and situations.)

A man describes how his wife fell from the sky one day. A woman traveling in an ill-fated hot air balloon who had to jump to make her escape. (Ahhhh... plop!, says the woman as she lays on the ground to play her part). They are both obsessed with weather conditions. Her name is Aloe Vera, his is Earl Grey. And I know what you're thinking - "Really? Oh, please." But it was delightful and silly and sweet. And after a very full night of 28 other previews, some good, some less than good, for a preview to break through my sense of dread and my sense of "wow, it's been a long night," well, that's pretty remarkable. You get the sense that the writer knows what they're doing, that they're going to walk that tricky line and pull the concept off. And if the other short scripts are just as good, then this could be a really nice collection.

There's a ton of information on their Fringe page, and their website, so give it a look. And consider putting this charming little oddity on your schedule. I am.

Their websites - www.shadowhorsetheatre.com

and stolendress.com

Their Fringe page

Fringe 2010 - FFA1 - An Actor I've Seen Pretty Much Everywhere BUT the Fringe

Another unexpectedly charming Fringe-For-All preview that got my attention...

St. Christopher of Financial Aid

The Peanut Butter Factory

"At Zenith University, the nation's fourth leading online campus, our students come first. That's why our Financial Aid Associates are available during normal business hours, five days a week. Call us anytime, and we'll hold your hand as you borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars from the United States Department of Education, while we patiently listen to your vindictive screaming about things over which we have absolutely no control. We're here for you."

This is not the story of one actor's foray into the corporate world.

This is the story of a friendship, and the modern miracle of a legitimate human connection.

See, *this* is how to do a preview. This is what I was talking about before when I said that one's who had their sh*t together really stood out next to the ones who obviously needed a few more weeks of rehearsal, or just chose their excerpt poorly.

One person shows can be deadly. One person shows based entirely on phone calls can be even more deadly. But Christopher Kehoe knows what he's doing. He knows how to work with a microphone (which you think wouldn't be hard, but you'd be wrong - there were plenty of examples of people, with and without microphones, who couldn't enunciate or project their voices to save their lives. And I know it's an unfamiliar space. And it's big, but it's not that big. This will not be the last time I type this during Fringe season, I'm sure but - always err on the side of talking too slowly, and always err on the side of being too loud. You may think you're talking slowly, you may think you're talking loudly. Most of the time, on stage, you're wrong. Nerves take over and you become the verbal equivalent Speedy Gonzales - fast and mouse-like. Take your time, and speak up!) Kehoe doesn't have that problem.

Kehoe also knows how to manifest completely different characters with his voice. So he's carrying on a totally believable conversation - with himself. And then layering in an internal monologue on top of the external phone call, berating himself for going too easy on an internet-phobic caller. Internet-phobic, and attending an online university. The operator at the college resists the urge to tell the guy, "maybe this place isn't the right fit for you." It's quick, it's funny, both the characters are clearly drawn and vocally distinct. Just really sharp work. It made me want to see the show, which, of course, is the whole point.

Plus, bonus points for inclusion of a Katharine Hepburn quote I hadn't heard before. The legendary film actress was once quoted as saying, "Life is hard. After all, it kills you."

And I've seen a lot of Christopher Kehoe sort of by accident in the past couple of years. There was Frank Theatre's By The Bog of Cats which visiting my second day job at the Guthrie up in the Dowling Studio. There was 20% Theatre Company's Teach Me Tonight which I saw as an Ivey evaluator. And then there was Sandbox Theatre's .faust late last year which I saw for the Twin Cities Daily Planet. His bio says right after the Fringe he's off to Denmark to study commedia dell'arte at The Commedia School in Copenhagen. He's certainly not letting any grass grow under his feet.

In fact, probably the only significant thing he's done lately that I haven't seen was, oddly enough, a Fringe show. Last year's offering from Theatre Pro Rata - Monster. I have to admit this was partly deliberate. The subject matter kind of squicked me out. I'm a pussy, I admit it. But damn, they got some great reviews for it. While financial aid and customer service may be a different kind of horror story for some, it's a horror story I can handle.

His press release elaborated a bit...

"St. Christopher is based on a true story, set in the financial aid office of an online university. Unlike a brick-and-mortar school, this staff will never meet any students; everything is done online or over the telephone. So in a society infatuated with online social media, and in a corporate structure plagued by rituals and regulations, the modern miracle of a legitimate human connection between Financial Aid Associate and student becomes all the more sacred."

Random interesting gimmick...

"Publicly-available onstage coffee is generously donated by Black Sheep Coffee Cafe."

Lyric junkie alert...

"Paul Simon fanatics will also enjoy numerous allusions to some of his most popular music."

We bounced a couple of emails back and forth and he said...

"It's a solo show that I created based on my time temping in a financial aid office for an online university. The 'thing' that I want to get dirty in is a reality check of where human relationships are in 2010; you can now receive a college education online and manage your social life on a networking website, but is an actual human connection so rare that it could be seen as a miracle? Could it be any more bizarre when the thing keeping a 23-yr-old white Minneapolis actor sane is an old black dude from Cincinnati, with whom, when we finally do say goodbye, there is a twinge of sentimentality? (He actually did call me a saint, which started this whole mess.) So it's that, nestled in a corporate satire that'll appeal to anyone who's ever had to dance the HR Dance."

Heck, I think I even remember his stage manager, who's also a playwright, from my days running a weekly new play reading series at the Playwrights' Center in one of my previous lives.

Just another accumulation of reasons, along with that preview, that I'm finding St. Christopher of Financial Aid creeping up the list of things I need to work into my Fringe schedule this year.

His website - www.christopherkehoe.net

His Fringe page

Fringe 2010 - FFA1 - When Minnesota kitsch meets Bible Study bitch...

This one really surprised me (in a good way)...

The Crock Pot

Mrs & Mrs Fallon Productions

"Manipulation, scandalous confessions and playing dirty - everything you'd expect from a Lutheran Hobby Fair!

In this dark comedy, Claire Olafson and her two 'best friends' Joy and Ruth form the middle-aged menagerie of their church's Bible Study, where they keep God close and their enemies closer. The Scande-German Hobby Fair proves to be more than crafts and baked goods as the ladies vie for attention, power and glory.

When Minnesota kitsch meets Bible Study b*tch, things are bound to simmer in The Crock Pot!"

This is normally the polar opposite of entertainment for me. I'm just not amused by "Minnesota accent"/Lutheran humor. It frequently seems mean-spirited to me, like all Minnesotans are funny-sounding simpletons. Those aren't the Minnesotans I've become acquainted with in the years since I moved here. The popularity of this humor bewilders me. You want to perpetuate this stereotype about yourselves so that's all people think of when they think of Minnesota? I just don't get it.

Add to that the whole genre of "church people are secretly small-minded vicious hypocritical human beings" and I'm doubly turned off.

So imagine my surprise when I actually found myself liking this preview snippet.

At first, I found it all grating like I normally do, and then the writing and the performances totally won me over. Accent plus phone call for exposition normally equals boring, but since the character was accepting a call from her sister in prison, it got progressively more interesting. The non-incarcerated, churchgoing sister (Ruth, I think) at one point scolds her sister for saucy language unheard by our end of the phone call...

"That's what an inmate would say, not a lady."

And she signs off by saying, "Dear, I love you. Now go make someone your bitch."

Ruth has designs on the fresh-faced new pastor, but she explains to her sister that it's tough to get a conversation going with him at church services because, "it's his place of business." She gets the brainstorm on the phone to photograph the minister in a dozen godly poses for the church calendar.

Pastor Ed has apparently been burned like this in the past, but he admits when Ruth springs this idea on him that he's "totally down with being the Lord's clay." Ruth encourages him to "use your body for the Lord."

Sure it's inappropriate, but the people have some dimension to them. They're not just cartoons - at least not the two in this excerpt. For a show to overcome my prejudices, and get my attention in just three minutes. That ain't easy to do.

If this is the sort of thing you're inclined to like already, I think you'll really enjoy. And if, like me, it isn't normally something you like, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Their Fringe page is a little in love with the exclamation point...

...the too nice and often stepped on Claire!
...the manipulative and conniving Joy!
...the independent, cat-loving, pastor-crushing Ruth!

(I assume this means she *has* a crush on the pastor, not that she literally, physically crushes him.)

...the cute, young pastor, Ed, with a sketchy past!
...the nosy and dumb Mrs. Ackerman!
...the wheelchair-bound, vengeful Frank - Joy's husband!
...the cantankerous and lazy Skip - Claire's husband!

Written by Emily Schmidt and directed by Molly Dworsky!

Such enthusiasm!

Facebook group

Their Fringe page

Fringe 2010 - FFA1 - A Show That Hands Out Those Red Plastic Cups For Your Beer

Yet another show that unexpectedly charmed me at Fringe-For-All

(man, I guess it was a better showcase overall than I felt like when I was sitting through it. Hmmm... don't worry, there will be blood. Later...)

I Remember You

created by Jess Dunne and Connor Molloy

"When retrograde amnesia from a car accident blocked out six years of Donny's life, he left high school. Now he's back for a house party, but when you don't have your own memories, whose can you believe?"

I was curious about this one since reading its previous blurb at the Fringe lottery back in February, when it was just called "Brain Injury" (newer title is great, by the way)...

"In the bedroom of a party, old friends catch up with a kid who left their school then lost his memory."

It's just such a wonderfully awkward premise, and the ensemble approached it in a loose, goofy way that completely disarmed me.

So the preview starts with our slacker/stoner dude narrator speaking to the audience as he passes out those red plastic cups that are required at any kegger to the audience members in the front row.

There's a girl sitting in an enormous plastic bin, which we find out later is supposed to be a bathtub. She has had a few too many mushrooms and is contemplating the universe.

The narrator gives us the backstory, well, as many details as he can recall anyway. There was an accident ("His mom died or something.") and Donny lost 4th through 10th grade from his memory. He switched to a new school to start over, but when graduation rolled around, he came back to his old school for their send-off party, which the slacker narrator thinks was a really cool thing for Donny to do. Even though the whole situation is supremely odd.

Donny and his former girlfriend sit on the porch together. He doesn't remember her. She knows it's not his fault, it's nothing personal, but it still hurts to be forgotten.

They approach these strange moments in a straightforward way, as devoid of sentimentality as Donny is devoid of memory, letting the audience decide how they feel about it. And just when things might slide into being maudlin, up pops some weird kid to try and bond with Donny. Who, of course, Donny doesn't remember. But this doesn't deter his "old buddy" from being really happy to see him. Maybe it's the red plastic cups talking.

The slacker narrator admits, "I don't have memory loss, and even I don't remember who the hell that guy is."

It's sort of every rite of passage/end of school story, turned on its head. I really enjoyed the quirky sensibility of it all.

Their website wasn't there when I checked a week or so ago, but it's up now. Not entirely fixed, some links are wonky, but the stuff that is there is engaging. It reminded me how I'm struggling to redesign my own website currently. Some makeshift production/publicity photos (as if they were taken at that party in the play - someone sitting on a washing machine, etc.) And the video links for the characters aren't video clips from the play, they're clips that the characters might enjoy, or the way they view the situation in the play. They're random mood pieces, which is an intriguing idea. It's worth poking around in, go visit.

Like I said, I was leaning toward this one anyway, but the preview sealed it. There's a lot of interesting stuff going on here, and the touch is light and funny without being superficial. It could end up being one of my favorite bits of Fringe. Stranger things have happened.

Their website - http://sites.google.com/site/irememberyoutheminnesotafringe/

Their Fringe page

Fringe 2010 - FFA1 - Flatulent Cross-eyed Dinosaur Devours Fringe Kitty

Another unexpectedly charming Fringe-For-All preview...

Fartosaurus Rex!

Big Blue Head

"Fartosaurus Rex! is the saga of what happens when the king of carnivores decides to take up a vegetarian diet of legumes, broccoli and cabbage. His cholesterol levels go way down and he finds friendship with fellow prehistoric creatures now that they no longer worry about getting their heads bitten off.

But there's also an unfortunate change to his digestive system. Fartosaurus Rex's former prey used to flee his fangs. Now they fear his flatulence. Will the dinosaur lose his new buddies? Will climate change ensue because of this new source of methane?

A puppet show about flatulence, friendship and food politics, starring a giant green dinosaur who sings, dances and cuts the cheese.

Plus a special cameo appearance by Wobbles, the Minnesota Fringe Festival kitty mascot. And audience members will have a chance to win a whoopee cushion door prize!"

This Fringe show's title and concept have been inducing giggles in the Fringe community since it was first announced to the world during the Fringe lottery in February.

The preview doesn't end happily for Wobbles the Fringe kitty. After devouring a smaller dinosaur, and Fred Flintstone (who fruitlessly ran for his life yelling, "Yabba Dabba Don't!"), Fartosaurus Rex bit off poor Wobbles' head. So there was also a cameo appearance by Wobble's bloody entrails. Yikes.

Our narrator was a giant talking pillow (no, really), and Fartosaurus itself is a person in a vibrant green dinosaur outfit - and cross-eyed.

No farting occurred during the three minute preview, as Fartosaurus had not yet changed from his meat diet.

But you can hear him let loose in this video interview...



And just in case you can get enough of farting dinosaurs, here's something random...



They just posted another video interview with Professor Van Schwanstucker (naughty)...



I think my favorite part of the preview was when, after only two lines of a song, Fartosaurus went up, and called out "LINE!"

Saved by the red light, Fartosaurus was not required to finish the song.

But clearly these people have a twisted, though still family friendly, sense of humor. The adults will get it on one level (Schwanstucker. Really?), and the kids get the farting and the disemboweling and the whoopee cushion door prizes (their parents should *love* that)

They are, appropriately enough, at the Jungle Theater.

The press release they sent had some delightful tidbits in it, including...

"We'd be happy to talk to you about it, or make Fartosaurus Rex available for an interview or appearance."

(That is *so* tempting. If only we had the budget to do the TV show this year, a farting cross-eyed dinosaur as a guest would be delightful. Sigh.)

"This is a one cheek sneak past the barriers of good taste, boldly diving into the world of bodily functions for a good belly laugh. Amusing for kids, or anyone else who likes a good fart joke. But also appealing to adults for its gentle message about friendship and climate change.

There's back story love story in the production. "Fartosaurus Rex!" is the creation of a couple of newlyweds who went on their first dates at 2009 Fringe Festival shows. Now back with a show of their own, these Fringe Festival rookies almost eloped so they would have more time to sew costumes, fashion puppets, create a prehistoric Badlands set and mold papier mache dinosaur turds instead of planning a wedding."

The bio section on their Fringe page has bios for each of the puppet/non-human characters, including, of course...

"Fartosaurus Rex
Role: Star. Eating. Singing. Farting.
...Credits include Jurassic Park on Ice (National Tour), Law & Order: Hell Creek Formation, Medora Musical and All My Children. Proud graduate of Michigan State University. Thanks to Mom, Dad, God and my intern/assistant Katie for remembering only a quarter packet of sugar in my latte.

Buddy
...got his start in show biz with his family's vaudeville act, The Aristocrats. Credits include A Streetcar Named Desire (Stanley Kowalski) at Randolph Junior High School, West Wing and commercials for Heinekin and American Express. Northwestern graduate. (Again, this is a puppet.)

Herbie Barrymore III
...credits include Rachel Henderson's 4th birthday party and the Morrison Insurance Brokerage company picnic.

Mason Throckburton
...spent the last two years lecturing and performing magic on cruise ships.

Richard Chin
Role: Stage manager
...has created toy theater productions of A Christmas Carol and Dracula. He's looking forward to bigger things with Fartosaurus Rex!: sock puppets instead of thumb-sized paper figures and the Jungle Theater stage instead of his living room. But he'll try to remember that in puppet theater, there are no small parts, only small actors."

I find it really hard to resist a show that has such a healthy sense of humor about itself.

Their Fringe page

Fringe 2010 - FFA1 - Love Among The Coffee Grounds

Yet another show that unexpectedly charmed me during Fringe-For-All previews...

Grind: The Musical

Theatre Undeclared

"The short version: The Rush coffee shop is a haven for all, from homeless evangelists to aspiring musicians. Grind uses rap, shadow puppetry and lots of music to see what happens when a shop like this is set for demolition."

OK, so I have a knee-jerk reaction to any show that slaps "The Musical" onto the end of their name, but it's a Fringe marketing gimmick that works for a lot of people. So I'm gonna stop fighting that.

I've gotten a reputation for hating musicals and that's not entirely true. I don't live and breathe musicals like some of my fellow gay brethren, but I don't hate all musicals. I do hate bad musicals. And there are a lot of them out there.

What constitutes a bad musical? A musical theater geek friend of mine is of the opinion that the bad ones are the ones in which the plot stops dead for a musical number, rather than the song pushing the plot forward. Revealing character is a good reason for a song, too, but even those need to keep the thing moving right along.

Another musical theater aficionado acquaintance of mine insists there must always be a love story, somewhere, at the heart of it. What else would prompt people to be so overcome with emotion that could only express themselves in song?

Stories set in coffee shops are almost as overdone as those in office environments, but hey, I'm just as guilty as the next person of using coffee shops. No stones to be thrown in that glass house.

I hear the Theatre Undeclared crowd sped up the song they sampled at Fringe-For-All, so that it would fit in the three-minute time limit. Phew. That may explain why one person was sometimes out of breath and overpowered by the electric keyboard nearby.

And wow, there were a lot of cheesy coffee-related metaphors - "I love you latte" "I can't espresso how much I feel..." etc.

And if the young lady and the young man hadn't both been totally adorable, solo, and with each other, it probably wouldn't have worked.

But they were adorable, and it did work. And after reading their slightly more expansive synopsis, cheekily titled...

"The better version: Grind is part of the next generation of musical theater, where the lines between actors, band and audience are broken down for good: our actors are musicians, our musicians play characters, and the audience is always, always in on the game. We believe breaking down these barriers is essential to telling a story that's both surprising and resonant. That's why we chose a coffee shop--it's a place where you arrive with a barrier up, but when that barrier gets broken down and you let yourself experience the people around you, magic can happen. And in "Grind", it does.

Plot-wise, Grind follows the owner of a doomed Minneapolis coffee shop, her aspiring-musician brother, a homeless evangelist, a comic-book writer and a young barista relocated by Katrina as each answers the question "what do I do when 'home' can't be home anymore?" Punctuated by bursts of shadow puppetry done in the style of comic-book art, each character struggles to answer this question set to a soundtrack made from styles varying from rap to indie to jazz to spoken word. And somehow, it's also hilarious."

...I get the feeling we might be in for something interesting. Not your standard cookie cutter romantic comedy.

I'm particularly intrigued by the comic book art shadow puppetry stuff. There are pictures of the process and end result on their flickr feed, again on their website.

Plus, the trailer for their previous outing - "Liberal Arts, The Musical" (argh) actually looks like some really nice work. Which bodes well for musical number 2.



I particularly enjoyed how a quote from a professor proclaimed, "It was sick." (I presume in a good way.)

Their blog has song samples from rehearsal - complete with actors swearing when they screw up the lyrics. Hee.

And Theatre Undeclared is one of a half dozen acts that are doing the Midwest Fringe circuit. So they'll have one Fringe already under their belt by the time they get to us. Kinks all worked out by then, I expect.

It's strangely bewitching. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I know I'm curious, rather than indifferent, which inches this show up a notch on the "must cram into my schedule somehow" list.

Their website - www.grindthemusical.com

Their Fringe page

Fringe 2010 - FFA1 - The First Three Minutes Were Great

Another in the category of Fringe-For-All previews of "shows that unexpectedly charmed me..."

The First Five Minutes Are Slow

"...but what follows is an epic. Using movement and the manipulation of everyday objects, three actors create and perform an original adventurous journey. A show for everyone that embraces laughter and imagination."

from Tamara Ober/Present State Movement

"I'm really jealous you guys all got to see that and I didn't," said Robin. Stuck backstage in her role as MC, it was hard to tell what was going on. All she could here was that we were all very amused.

This is where it gets fun to watch the Fringe slowly start to congeal. At first, the tech booth kept the lights up a bit, until they realized - oh, darkness is the point! And they pulled the lights out for the rest of the bit.

Because it was sort of "Attack of the Dancing Light Fixtures" (with a side order of "I Sure Hope They Don't Run Out of Extension Cords")

Tamara (I'm just guessing, since it's a three person group and she's the only female on stage) was dressed in business attire, and glasses, and we were told she went into a cave. Along with a desk lamp. The lamp would go on and off, in time with the music, at the behest of a remote control clicker she would zap it with. And dance with. The light started out red, and by the end somehow became blue, and green, and then kind of a kaleidoscope. She was joined by two men in matching button down shirts, ties, vests and slacks, creeping up behind her. Also armed with desk lamps they could remotely zap, and dance with. And the colored light samba they had going would reveal their contorted comical quizzical faces in all sorts of combinations. It was cheeky and goofy and really a hell of a lot of fun.

A scratch of a needle across a record sound and the lamps went out. "What happened?" asked one of the ominous men. "Our time is up," she replied. They'd timed it out with time to spare, but the bit at the end was an amusing way to put a button on it and avoid being applauded offstage for running overtime.

Not a heck of a lot on their Fringe page, but when I went digging about I discovered...

"Oh! She's the one who did Pipa in last year's Fringe!" (a show I heard a lot of good things about but never got a chance to see) A sampling...



From the looks of other posts on the internet, she took her act up to the Canadian Fringe circuit and out west to Seattle, among other things, quite successfully. She also revisited Pipa as part of the Red Eye New Works series.

Also got herself a Minnesota dance award, the Sage Award for Outstanding Performer, last fall. So she's had a busy fruitful year since last Fringe. She's done a lot of work in the past with the Zenon Dance troupe (which even a non-dance-ophile like myself has heard of, if not seen in person yet)

Oh, and she was also part of the Fringe 2008 show The Gypsy & The General from 3 Sticks, so that's another point of reference I didn't already know I had.

Time I saw her for myself I think. The show looks like a real lark.

So, thanks, Fringe-For-All. I now need to revisit my schedule - again. Too much good theater to choose from. My favorite painful time of year.

Their Fringe page

Fringe 2010 - FFA1 - Man In Love With Chair, version 2.0

In the "shows I was unexpectedly charmed by" category is...

Yvette

Action Theater Project

"Morton has run out of ways to save the Thornton family estate from foreclosure, but when two antiques dealers show up and offer Morton a large sum of money for a particular antique chair, it looks like all may not be lost.

There is only one problem: Morton is in love with the chair.

With the foreclosure deadline closing in, how far will Morton go to defend his love for Yvette?

Sexual objectification takes on a whole new meaning in this farcical comedy when the object of sexual desire is, literally, an object. "Happily ever after" means something different when you can't legally get married. And sometimes autodidacts are the smartest people in the room.

If you have ever been annoyed by a love story, this show is for you."

First off, I was hoping to like this show anyway, because the writer/director is Gemma Irish, who gamely pitched in to help as a 24-Hour playwright for Theatre Unbound's annual fundraiser a couple of years ago. As playwright wrangler for the event, I often find it challenging to find 12 writers willing to go through sleep deprivation to instantly create a play overnight. Gemma was one of those writers, and whenever possible, I try to have a long memory about those things and help those writers in return as I'm able.

However, what are the odds that two local playwrights - one male, one female; one gay, one straight; one deaf, one hearing - should both write plays about men who fall in love with furniture, and produce them in back-to-back years in the Fringe Festival? I am referring, of course, to last year's That Chair Was My Wife. It was the first thing Mom and I saw in last year's Fringe. Even though that show was in my pre-Fringe Top 20, I still wasn't sure how I'd feel about it. It ended up getting a 4 star review out of me, and turned out to be more fascinating, and strangely moving, than merely creepy.

But who knew men's amorous attentions to chairs was its own genre? As Robin Gillette said the other night at Fringe-For-All (about the seals who turn into women double feature at this year's Fringe): "I do not understand the zeitgeist."

The last time I checked their Fringe page, there wasn't a lot of information there on the people involved. So I didn't know what to expect.

Then Joe Bombard walked out.

And I now want to see this show about ten times more than I already did.

That was before he did a thing.

Joe Bombard is one of my favorite theater people. And he works a lot. And I miss so many of his shows it's criminal. And the one great thing about Fringe season is that I finally have a week and a half where my one and only job is just to see as much damn theater as I can. So if friends have shows and the scheduling magic works out, I can actually watch people I love watching onstage, doing what they love to do.

I think I first saw Joe in Fringe production of Bent, which had such a strange audience member in the front row what I felt compelled to riff on the subject of Fringe Etiquette for the Holocaust. Joe was also the title character in Walking Shadow's production of American Pilot.

But the reason Joe Bombard is permanently stuck on my list of people I need to see perform as often as I can is that he was also the title character in Dog Tag in Fringe 2008. A little script my friend Anne Bertram and I wrote. And Joe was just a heartbreakingly delightful dog, with such boundless enthusiasm, that... well, see for yourself...



There are actors who would treat that role like a joke.

And there are actors who would treat the role of a man in love with a chair like a joke.

Joe isn't one of those actors.

No matter the level of weirdness, he commits to it fully, and makes his characters - animal, vegetable or mineral - fully human, and recognizable, and relatable.

So if anybody can make me care again about a guy who cares about a chair, it'd be Joe.

In fact, when he touched, and kissed, and brought flowers for the chair, Yvette, there were actually some people in the audience who went, "Awwww." Like it was the cutest, most romantic thing ever.

A guy. And a chair. To the tune of a little French pop song.

(Bonus points, I see also in the cast list now, they have Patrick Kozicky, of
Fringe 2009's The Return of LICK!, Fringe 2008's American Sexy, and Fringe 2006's Wonderland, among other things. Cool.)

Excuse me now while I rearrange my Fringe schedule (again) so I can be sure to see Yvette

Their Fringe page

Fringe 2010 - Fringe-For-All 1 - Sometimes The Unscripted Moments Are The Best

Favorite unintentional theater review from last night...

During intermission of Fringe-For-All last night, a friend couldn't believe that between the History Theater and the School of Music that housed it, they didn't have a single piano which could be used for the previews.

I was about to make excuses (after all, 29 groups of artists you don't know, playing with something as delicate as a piano?), when another friend blurted out under their breath,

"It wouldn't have helped."

Oops. I think that was your "out loud" voice, my dear.

They were immediately chagrined, but grinned.

And they were right. Some of those 29 previews last night were a bit... rough, to be kind about it. Still very much works in progress. But we're still 23 days out. Over three weeks. God love 'em all for having the nerve to put something out there. Hard core Fringers can be forgiving, but also a potentially tough crowd. And it made the groups that had their act together really stand out.

A fellow blogger during the same intermission shared a bit of their inner monologue with me, jokingly grumbling, "I just wanna post something before Everett!"

Well, my friend, you have over a 12 hour head start. (And that's not counting all the people twittering and otherwise connecting with the internet over their new-fangled phones during the previews. My phone is still just a phone. It doesn't even take pictures. Seriously, people, unplug for a couple of hours. There are all kinds of people you can connect with, you know, right next to you. There's a room full of them. And it's live theater. Whatever.)

Day job's been crazy, as it's the reporting period after the turn of our fiscal year end, and we're still understaffed. It's job security of a sort, but it doesn't leave a lot of downtime for blogging duties.

Then I absentmindedly spaced the fact that I needed to recharge my laptop battery, since there's nowhere to plug in on the lunch break. So lunch was actually just lunch, and not lunch and computer time, for a change. I contented myself with reading over one of my own scripts in rewrite mode instead. I listened to a guy singing and playing his guitar in the sandwich shop next to the food court outside my workplace. Wow, music exists beyond my earbuds. Imagine that.

Rather than go through them all chronologically (as it was sometimes a bit of "long hard slog" as Rumsfield used to say), I think I'll gather them in some general groupings...

Shows that unexpectedly charmed me
Shows that I'm sure have to be better than their previews last night
Shows that it will surprise no one that I liked
Shows that I am just not the audience for

Well, on with it then...